Heroic ballads, with poems of war and patriotism

Front matter

HEF(0IC

Ballads

MONTGOMERY

Table Of Contents

PAGE

1. HoRATius Lord Macaulay 1

2. Virginia Lord Macaulay 29

I. Laes Porsena 2 of Clusium

By the Nine Gods ^ he swore That the great house of Tarquin *

Should suffer wrong no more.

By the Nine Gods he swore it,

And named a trysting ^ day,

1 About three hundred and sixty years after the founding of Rome, or 393 B.C. The scene of the lay is chiefly in Etruria and in Rome.

2 Lars Porsena (Por-se'na or Por'se-na) : Lars was an Etruscan title of honor and office corresponding to chief or lord. The Etruscans were an ancient people occupying Etruria, a territory in Italy north and west of Rome, the river Tiber being the eastern and southern boundary. Lars Porsena was the most powerful chief or king of the twelve Etruscan tribes. His capital was Clu'si-ura, about ninety miles northwest of Rome.

3 Nine Gods : little is known respecting the Etruscan deities. The Romans supposed them to have nine chief gods, who, like Jupiter, had the power of hurling thunderbolts.

^ Tarquin : Tarquin the Proud was the last king of Rome, 505 B.C. He robbed the people of their liberty, and his son, Sextus, committed an outrage which caused a revolution by which the monarchy was overthrown and Tarquin banished. Tarquin applied to Lars Porsena for aid, and that chief raised an army to compel the Romans to reinstate the exiled despot.

5 Trysting day (tryst'ing) : an appointed day of meeting ; here, a day agreed on for the meeting of troops.

HEEOIC BALLADS.

And bade Ms messengers ride forth, East and west and south and north, To summon his array .^

n.

East and west and south and north

The messengers ride fast, And tower and town and cottage

Have heard the trumpet's blast.

Shame on the false Etruscan ^

Who lingers in his home When Porsena of Clusium

Is on the march for Rome.

III. The horsemen and the footmen

Are pouring in amain,^ From many a stately market-place ;

From many a fruitful plain; From many a lonely hamlet,

Wliich, hid by beech and pine, Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest

Of purple Apennine ;

IV. From lordly Volaterrge,*

Where scowls the far-famed hold

^ Array : the whole body of fighting-men bound to follow a chief.

^ Etruscan : an inhabitant of Etruria. 3 Amain: at full speed.

4 Volater'rse : a famous city of Etruria, standing on a commanding height. Its citadel, or "hold," was built, like its walls, of massive uncemented stones.

Piled by the hands of giants

For godlike kings of old ; From sea-gu't Populonia,^

Fringing the southern skj ; /

V. From the proud mart of Pisse,^

Queen of the western waves, Where ride Massilia's triremes ^

Heavy with fair-haired slaves ; From where sweet Clanis ^ wanders

Through corn and vines and flowers ; From where Cortona ^ lifts to heaven

Her diadem of towers.